


Bait

by Inkandquills, writersstudy



Series: Inktober 2019 [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Gangs, Gen, In the first chapter, Kidnapping, Monsters, Sea Monsters, Violence, in the second chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-23 02:50:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20884901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkandquills/pseuds/Inkandquills, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersstudy/pseuds/writersstudy
Summary: Inktober 2019, Day Three!Prompt: BaitGroup: Stray KidsPairing: Chan & Jeongin (platonic)A: Jeongin had to hope Chan would save him.M: Jeongin makes an unlikely friend.[[PLEASE NOTE THAT WE, THE AUTHORS, HAVE NOT GIVEN PERMISSION FOR THIS WORK TO BE RE-POSTED ANYWHERE EXCEPT DIRECTLY ON AO3. IF YOU SEE THIS WORK ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE REPORT IT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND NOTIFY US AT LIVING.LENIENTLY@GMAIL.COM. THANK YOU.]]Happy Bang Chan Day!





	1. Ashlee

“Where are they?” Chan growled, eyes scanning the streets below them as well as he could without being seen.

“Are you absolutely certain they’re going to be here?” Woojin asked him. Chan nodded. 

“Jisung intercepted communications from them days ago and there’s no way it was fake,” he said, “they’re here somewhere. I just don’t understand why they’re not showing their faces. It’s not an ambush if you don’t  _ do _ anything.”

“Okay,” Woojin said, getting up and joining Chan next to the window, “if you’re so sure they’re here, then we need to do something to draw them out. We need bait.”

“Well, we can’t take one of them if we can’t pinpoint where they’re hiding, and if they haven’t gone after Hyunjin at the entrance yet, then they’re not going to go after any of us,” the leader said with a huff.

“ _ Any _ of us?” Woojin asked, quiet and pointed.

“No,” Chan said immediately, knowing what he was suggesting, “absolutely not. That’s not even an option.”

“It’s the only option,” Woojin argued, “he’s fully capable of defending himself if he really needs to, but as far as anyone else is concerned, he’s just some defenseless kid you’ve been housing. If there’s  _ anyone _ they’ll go after, it’s Jeongin.” Chan sighed and hung his head. He knew Woojin was right. The second their rival gang leapt on Jeongin, Seungmin would be able to track and follow them right to their hideout. 

“Fine,” he said, “but I swear to god, Woojin, if they hurt him…” The threat died in his throat. “We can’t let him know what the plan is. Have Minho send him to get some snacks or coffee or something.” Woojin nodded and sent the younger man to send Jeongin out. 

The three of them watched like hawks as the boy stepped out of the building and headed down the deserted street toward the convenience store. He had nearly reached the end of the road when two men rushed out of an alley and converged on them. Jeongin did his best to fight them off, but they were simply too fast. In a matter of seconds, they had him down and then they were gone.

Chan immediately ordered Seungmin to follow the men on the cameras as best as they could and he had just caught sight of a license plate number before the cameras all went dead.

Jeongin was terrified, and also not. He knew there had to be some ulterior motive to Chan asking him to go get snacks. They were in defense mode; why would their leader have him leave the stronghold? Either way, he wasn’t in a position to fight the command, so he did it. He had tried to fight back when the men had accosted him, but they were simply too big, too strong. Now, he was ziptied in the back of a black van, surrounded by enemies with guns. 

“What you lookin’ at, kid?” one of them asked gruffly, shifting his weapon intimidatingly. Jeongin glared.

“Nothing pretty,” he muttered indignantly. He gasped when his head snapped to the side.

“Watch your mouth,” his captor grunted, “or that’s not the worst you’ll get.” They kept driving for what felt like hours. When the van finally lurched to a stop and the men dragged Jeongin outside, it was dark out. They shoved him into a building and through dark, winding hallways to a tiny cell of a room. He was bound to a chair with just a single light bulb swinging above him and left in the near darkness. 

Jeongin was starting to get really scared now. From what he knew about this gang, they were about evenly matched with his own. The fact that Chan hadn’t come to rescue him yet, didn’t bode well for him.

“Hyung, I lost the van,” Seungmin said, typing quickly on his keyboard. His screens hopped from camera to camera, but none of them showed the van he’d been tracking. 

“Where was the last location that you saw it?” Chan asked tersely. Seungmin pulled up one of the screens. Chan glanced around the view, taking note of the multitude of factories and narrow alleys.

“He’s there somewhere,” he decided finally, “send me the coordinates of that camera. Suit up, everyone. We’re going to get Jeongin back.” He hefted his own gun over his shoulder, stormy look on his face. He should have never let Woojin talk him into this. He’d never forgive himself if Jeongin got hurt.

Jeongin could feel the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth as he grunted, taking another blow to the side of his face.

“When is Stray Kids’ next meeting with your arms supplier?” the red-haired man asked.

“I don’t know,” Jeongin gritted out. He cried out when the butt of his crony’s pistol came down on the already split skin of his cheek.

“They don’t tell me anything!” he insisted, “Chan hyung treats me like a fucking baby!”

“Oh, Chan hyung?” the man said mockingly, “that’s so cute. It’s too bad you’ll never get to see him again, Jeonginnie. I’m sure he’ll miss you.” He squeezed Jeongin’s jaw before turning around and beckoning to one of his minions.

“Get him to talk,” he said lowly, “or let him die trying.”

Woojin drove them down the alley with the headlights off, not wanting to alert Jeongin’s captors of their presence. He stopped in a shadow and everyone piled out of the car.

“Split up,” Chan ordered, “Wooj and Seungmin to the north, Minho and Felix east, I’ll go south with Jisung, and Changbin and Hyunjin go west. These guys are insane, especially their kingpin, so call for backup before trying to bust in anywhere once you find them. The important thing is getting Jeongin out.” Everyone murmured their understanding and they split up. 

It was Woojin and Seungmin that stumbled on the compound first. They were slowly advancing down one of the many alleyways, checking every entrance, every doorway, to find any sign of the rival gang. It was Seungmin that saw him first, the man with the gun lingering outside a nondescript abandoned factory building. 

“Hyung,” he hissed, “is that one of them?” Woojin whipped around and nodded as soon as he saw the man. He grabbed his phone off his hip and immediately called Chan. 

“Hyung, we should take him out now,” Seungmin hissed. Woojin grabbed his arm and dragged him back into the shadows. They had to wait for Chan, not that it would take long for everyone to join them. 

“They already took Jeongin, they’re not taking you too,” he said firmly. Seungmin huffed but didn’t try again. Hopefully, the rest of them would get there soon.

“Still not gonna talk?” the man snarled. Jeongin glared up at him through his swollen eye.

“Fuck you,” he spat. His head snapped to the side as the man hit him again. 

“This is worthless,” the man finally said, pulling the pistol out of his belt and inspecting it, “we’re obviously not gonna get anything out of you, so there’s no point in keeping you around. Poor, little Chan hyung.” Jeongin’s head hung and he spat blood out onto the floor. 

“I don’t  _ know _ anything,” he said again, a little desperate this time. 

“Exactly,” the man said with a smirk, leveling the gun at Jeongin’s head, “that’s not worth anything to me.” Jeongin’s eyes widened and he stared down the barrel of the gun. His mind was panicking. How was he supposed to get out of this?

“Do it,” he challenged, trying not to show his fear when the hammer cocked. He braced himself, but the door slammed open first and the man whirled around. 

The second the entire group was gathered outside the building, Chan had them ambushing the guard outside. They breached the building, doing their best to stay hidden and quiet as they tried to find where they were keeping Jeongin. Unfortunately, they weren’t so lucky. Changbin and Minho were the ones to take the brunt of the first attack from the back of the group, just barely dodging bullets as they spun around. It was tight and dark in the hallway, so it was difficult to determine who was on which side.

“Chan, go!” Woojin yelled finally, “we got this, go find Jeongin!” Chan darted down the hallway, busting doors open left and right. He was getting more and more frantic. If Jeongin was hurt, he’d kill everyone he could get his hands on. Finally, after what felt like a million doors, he busted through a door and came face to face with a handgun. He could spy Jeongin, bound to a chair behind the gunman, blood dripping off his face. Chan saw red.

His arm came up and knocked the gun aside, punching the gunman in the face. He staggered to the side but didn’t go down like Chan hoped, instead coming back up with a vengeance. Chan kept throwing punches, until the man was down for good. He hurried over to Jeongin, whipping his pocket knife out to cut the zip ties.

“Hyung?” Jeongin said weakly, looking up through his swollen eyes.

“I’m here, Innie,” Chan said, “hyung’s here.” Jeongin smiled weakly before collapsing in Chan’s arms, the adrenaline and shock finally catching up to him. Chan hurried to catch him and lower him to the floor just as the door swung open again.

“Well, well, well, look what we have here,” the red-haired man taunted, leaning in the doorway with a large knife dangling from his fingertips. Chan glowered and stood.

“Kim Hongjoong,” he growled, stalking forward. The redhead smirked. 

“Guess I didn’t have to do the work. Ambushed yourself, didn’t ya?” he mocked. Chan stalked toward him, not even giving Hongjoong a second to defend himself before he had him slammed into the hallway wall by his neck.

“Give me one reason not to kill you right now,” he snarled. The knife clattered to the ground as Chan’s hand tightened and Hongjoong’s fingers came up to scratch at his wrist.

“Chan,” a voice called from behind him. Woojin’s hand landed on his shoulder and Chan stepped back, dropping Hongjoong to the floor. 

“Jeongin needs help,” the older man said, “we can come back for them later.” Chan nodded sharply. Stepping back into the tiny room, he scooped Jeongin up and led the way out of the compound.

Jeongin woke up to a dark room. He scrambled to sit up and reach for his glasses. His fingers scraped empty table. Right. His glasses had been broken by the men at the compound. His hands came up to his cheeks and found his cheekbone bandaged and his eyes swollen and bruised. 

“Jeonginnie? How are you feeling, bud?” The mattress sunk next to him as Chan sat down and a low light clicked on.

“Here, have some water,” the leader said, holding the glass out and helping Jeongin take a sip. The relief Jeongin felt at knowing he was home and safe was indescribable.

“I was scared you weren’t coming,” he mumbled when he finally felt less parched. Chan set the glass down and pulled Jeongin into a hug as the boy broke down into quiet tears. He held the boy tightly and stroked his hair. It broke his heart to see his youngest brother so scared.

“I’ll always come for you, Innie,” he murmured softly, “always.”


	2. Chapter 2

Jeongin huffed and shifted his backpack on his shoulders. They had been walking for what felt like hours and he was already dreading the walk back.

“How much longer until we get there?” he whined.

“Just a few more minutes,” Chan promised. 

“You’ve said that every time I asked,” Jeongin whined again, louder this time. Chan shook his head and started leading them down a small trail off of the main path they had been walking down. Jeongin followed hesitantly, not really sure where they were going. He trusted Chan but he had to admit he was very skeptical of this whole ordeal. Not far onto the path, they hit a wall of vines, completely blocking any way forward. He was about to protest to why Chan took them this way when the older boy pushed back the vines to reveal a large lake. Jeongin gasped quietly and walked through the opening Chan had made. The lake stretched far beyond the eye could see and it’s crystal clear water shimmered in the sunlight. It made sense now why Chan had insisted they bring fishing poles. Jeongin followed Chan across the grass and over to the dock that lined a small portion of the lake. A boardwalk extended off of it, well into what looked to be the middle of the lake. 

“Hyung, is this stable?” Jeongin asked nervously when the older boy started climbing the steps. 

“Completely,” Chan promised. Jeongin relaxed a little and followed Chan again. Only when they reached the end of the boardwalk did Jeongin finally shed his backpack and take a seat. The platform was large enough for both of them to lay down if they please and it was low enough that they could stick their feet in the water if they hung their legs over the side. 

“It’s really pretty here,” Jeongin commented. 

“Are you happy I brought you now?” Chan asked. He sat down next to Jeongin and began setting up. 

“Yeah, but I’m not looking forward to the walk back,” Jeongin said. 

“The walk back is always shorter,” Chan said, knowingly. 

“You’re going to use your trick again, aren’t you?” Jeongin asked with narrow eyes. Chan shrugged innocently.

“Maybe,” he replied. He put a lure on Jeongin’s rod before handing it over to the boy. Jeongin kicked his shoes and socks off before sliding to sit on the edge of the dock. The water was surprisingly not as cold as he expected it to be. He waited for Chan to sit down next to him before casting his line out. 

“So why exactly did we come here?” he asked. 

“Well, because it’s somewhere new. It’s far enough away that none of the other boys will find us. And,” Chan dropped his voice unnecessarily, “there’s a lot of rumors about different creatures that live in this lake and I want to try and see if any of them are true.” Jeongin glanced down into the water. Even though it was very clear, the lake was so deep that he couldn’t see that far into the water. 

“Are there normal fish in this lake too?” he asked. 

“Oh, plenty, but we’re not worried about those today,” Chan said, “if we catch anything we’ve seen before, we’ll throw them back. There’s some ruby colored cichlids that help speed up healing and this is the only lake I’ve heard of them being in. I want to try to catch a couple to bring back so we have them when someone gets sick.” Jeongin nodded. It was obvious that there was definitely something else living in this lake, other than the multitude of different species of fish, but what it was he wasn’t sure yet. He let the conversation drop after that and listened to Chan’s quiet humming as they fished. It didn’t take long for him to start to get frustrated and eventually give up. Fishing was never his thing, but Chan always dragged him out. And every time, the older boy would catch at least three or four fish before he even got a bite. Eventually, Jeongin put his rod to the side and sat back. He moved his feet back and forth and watched the water rippled. It was so easy to lose track of time and eventually the sun started to set. It cast gorgeous colors across the sky, which reflected beautifully off of the lake. As Jeongin was looking across the lake, he caught something poke its head above the water.

“Chan hyung, what is that?” he asked, pointing in the direction of the creature. 

“What’s what?” Chan asked, not looking. 

“That!” Jeongin said again. He turned around and found Chan not looking. He grabbed the older boy’s arm and tugged him until he turned to look. When Jeongin turned back around to point, the creature was gone.

“There was something over there, I swear. It looked huge but I don’t know what it was,” Jeongin insisted. 

“I think it’s time to head back. You’re starting to see things and Woojin’s been wondering where we are for the last twenty minutes or so,” Chan said. He stood up and took a towel out of his backpack to start drying off his legs and feet. Jeongin pouted and stood up to follow Chan.

“You should just bring him next time,” Jeongin grumbled, “maybe you’ll believe him when he sees something.” Chan rolled his eyes fondly.

“And leave you boys unattended? I don’t think so,” Chan said, “now come on. Dinner’s ready and I don’t want to miss it.” Jeongin grumbled to himself and tossed his backpack over his shoulder. He definitely saw something and was going to figure out what that creature was whether Chan believed him or not. They walked off of the dock and back towards the vines. Unsurprisingly, when Jeongin stepped through them this time, he found himself right at the edge of the woods behind their house.

“You should have just done that instead of making us walk for hours this morning,” Jeongin grumbled, as he stomped up to the house. Woojin was at the back door before they even got there, fussing over them and asking how everything went and making sure they were okay. Jeongin dodged his questions and went upstairs to put all of his stuff away.

“Well, how did it go?” Felix asked, poking his head into Jeongin’s room. Seungmin was just behind him, looking just as curious. 

“Fine,” Jeongin replied with a shrug, “you know how Chan gets with trips like this.” He was a little distracted as he started unpacking his backpack.

“No way. Something happened. I know that tone,” Seungmin said, shoving passed Felix. He sat down on the edge of Jeongin’s bed and waited expectantly. Felix stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. Jeongin sighed and looked up at the older boys.

“There’s something in that lake. Chan said there’s all sorts of creatures living in it but when I saw something, he claimed he didn’t see anything. I want to go back and see if I can find it without him,” Jeongin explained.

“Whoa, what did it look like?” Felix asked.

“I couldn’t get a really good look. I just saw it’s back I think? Whatever it was, it was huge though,” Jeongin said.

“When should we go back?” Felix asked conspiratorially.

“Tomorrow morning? Whenever we think we can sneak out without Woojin or Chan catching us,” Jeongin said.

“I’ll distract Chan and Woojin if you promise to get a picture of what you find,” Seungmin bargained.

“Deal,” Jeongin said immediately. He finished putting his stuff away before following the older boys downstairs for dinner. The next morning, Seungmin kept his promise and Jeongin and Felix snuck out of the house. This time though, Jeongin carried a camera and a bucket filled with various different types of bait with him. He wasn’t sure what the creature would like so he just grabbed everything he could find. Jeongin walked down to the treeline by the woods and was relieved when he found the vines still there. He had never been more grateful Chan had left a shortcut up in his life. Not wasting any time, he led Felix through the vines and was happy to find himself standing next to the lake. 

“Whoa, this place is so cool,” Felix commented as he looked around. 

“Don’t tell Chan hyung I told you anything about this place. He seemed kinda secretive about it yesterday,” Jeongin said. The last thing he needed was for Chan to take down the shortcut. 

“I won’t,” Felix promised. He mimed drawing a zipper over his mouth and throwing away the key. 

“Good,” Jeongin said with a nod. He led Felix up the steps and into the middle of the boardwalk. 

“Okay, I saw something that way,” he explained, pointing, “so I’m gonna try to throw some of this bait as far as I can and you snap pictures of anything you see.” He handed the camera to Felix and grabbed the bucket. Jeongin had grabbed anything and everything from the house he thought might work, but that Woojin and Chan wouldn’t notice was missing. He grabbed an old fish carcass and held his nose as he threw it as far away from them as he could. They waited with bated breath for a few moments but nothing happened. Jeongin pouted.

“Why didn’t that work?” he whined. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the fish carcass disappeared beneath the lake’s surface with only a few ripples to replace it. Jeongin gasped and immediately reach for the bucket, grabbing whatever was on top and throwing it. Felix focused the camera and waited with a shaking finger over the shutter button. A few minutes later, the head of a large creature slowly broke the surface of the water. It turned to look at Jeongin and Felix for a moment. Jeongin froze as he locked eyes with what could only be described as a large sea serpent. It blinked its eyes once before diving back beneath the surface, revealing a body that looked very similar to that of a dragon. Jeongin didn’t even register the click of the camera; he was too busy trying to take in every detail of the creature before it disappeared beneath the water.

“I got it! I got it!” Felix said excitedly.

“Let’s go show Seungminnie,” Jeongin said. He grabbed the bucket with one hand and Felix’s with the other and raced down the dock and through the vines. Not even paying attention to who was in the house, Jeongin burst through the back door and bounded up the stairs to Seungmin’s room. 

“We got a picture,” Jeongin panted. Seungmin sat up in bed and put his book to the side so he could see. Felix handed over the camera and both boys waited expectantly. Seungmin swiped through the couple of pictures, stopping on the last and clearest one. 

“It looks like the Loch Ness Monster,” he said, not looking up from the camera. 

“What? That doesn’t make sense,” Jeongin protested. Seungmin put the camera to the side and stood up to grab one of his books from the shelf. He checked the index before flipping to a page and turning it around. 

“Look at this picture. It’s almost identical to yours,” Seungmin pointed out. Sure enough, from the long neck to the crest of the creature’s back, the picture in Seungmin’s book almost exactly matched the one Felix took.

“But it doesn’t live anywhere near us,” Jeongin pointed out.

“I’m assuming Chan used a shortcut to get you there?” Seungmin asked knowingly. 

“Yeah, he did,” Jeongin said slowly, “he even said he wanted to see if any of the legends about the lake were true. But I don’t know why he would take me for that.”

“Because you have a way with animals,” Seungmin said like it was obvious, “Chan knows that if there’s one person who’s going to be able to figure out if the Loch Ness Monster is real, it would be you. And he also knew that you would be curious enough to go back and figure it out.” Jeongin huffed and sat down on the edge of Seungmin’s bed.

“I’m gonna go back one more time. And then if I can prove it’s true, I’ll bring Chan back,” Jeongin said. He supposed it would only be fair to tell the older boy, considering that was the whole reason he was brought on the trip to begin with. 

“A lot of people call it Nessie. You can try that and see if it might work,” Seungmin suggested. Jeongin nodded and mulled it over. Felix knew better than to ask to come again and instead distracted Jeongin and Seungmin with a board game. They stayed upstairs for most of the day, trying not to cause any more trouble and raise suspicion. They managed to dodge all of Woojin and Chan’s questions about what they did during the day and head to bed with the oldest boys none the wiser. 

The following morning found Jeongin once again heading for the lake. This time, he just had his bucket and was completely alone. He walked up the boardwalk and glanced out at the calm water. He sat on the edge, facing the middle of the lake, and threw a piece of raw meat he had snagged from the fridge that morning out as far as he could. This time, however, nothing so much as touched the piece of meat. Jeongin waited patiently, even trying to look away to see if that would help. But even as the sun started to rise higher and higher in the sky, there was no sign of the sea beast he and Felix saw the previous day

“Come on, Nessie, where are you?” he grumbled to himself a little while later. No sooner were the words out of his mouth than did he feel something hit the bottom of his foot. He yelped in surprise and pulled his feet out of the water. Scrambling back as fast as he could, he nearly knocked the bucket over in his haste. Jeongin sat in the middle of the dock, chest heaving as he watched the creature he saw yesterday poke its head out of the water to look at him. The boy and the sea creature stared at each other for a moment before Jeongin finally grew the nerve to speak.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, much like he was talking to a dog; a rather large and completely soaking wet dog. Just like a dog however, the beast didn’t respond. Jeongin reached for the bucket and grabbed another piece of meat. With shaking hands, he tossed it as high as he could and was, albeit not surprised, but still amazed when the creature caught it out of the air.

“You’re not as scary as I thought you would be,” Jeongin commented. He pulled himself to his feet. Starting to get brave now, he held out a hand and took a few steps towards the edge of the dock. Jeongin held his breath as the creature slowly reached its head forward and ever so gently pushed it into Jeongin’s outstretched hand. Nessie’s nose was freezing but Jeongin was soon distracted by how smooth and soft the scales were beneath his fingers.

“So Nessie really is your name, huh? And you actually come when called?” Jeongin commented to himself. The creature made a noise, low in its throat, almost as if it was acknowledging Jeongin’s statement. 

“Chan hyung’s gonna be so excited to hear that you’re real,” Jeongin said excitedly. Nessie snorted, spraying Jeongin with cold lake water and pulling her face away.

“Hey! What was that for?” Jeongin grumbled, “the water’s freezing!” Nessie just pulled back more and turned to dive back into the water.

“No, no, no, wait, it’s okay. You don’t have to go. I’m sorry. Chan’s the one that was here with me a few days ago. He’s really nice and I promise he won’t do anything,” Jeongin insisted. He pushed his wet bangs out of his face and wiped the water off his eyes. Nessie turned back around and watched Jeongin closely.

“I think you would really like him. And if I bring him, you can spray him too,” Jeongin promised. That would be a fun sight to see: Chan dripping wet because he got doused by the Loch Ness Monster. Oh well, that would come soon enough. Jeongin walked all the way to the edge of the dock and held his hand out. To his relief, and joy, Nessie once again pushed her face into his hand. Jeongin spent the next several hours petting Nessie, throwing her the rest of the food in his bucket, and just talking with her. He could almost forget she was a legendary sea creature if it weren’t for her size.

“Alright, I have to go back to the house before they start missing me, but I’ll be back with Chan hyung soon,” he promised. If Jeongin had blinked he would have missed the almost subtle nod the creature gave him. Before he could say anything else, she dove beneath the water and completely disappeared without so much as a splash. Jeongin walked back to the house, a bounce in his step and a smile on his face. The boys were never going to believe what happened. He couldn’t wait to tell all of them but he knew that would have to wait until after he showed Chan. Which was where he hit his next problem. Getting to the lake wasn’t an issue. He would go every morning and see Nessie for a few hours before heading back to the house to spend the rest of the days with his friends. He almost liked having Nessie as his little secret but after a week or so, he knew he had to tell the older boy.

“Hey, Chan hyung, can we go to the lake tomorrow? There’s something I want to show you,” Jeongin asked, trying not to give away his excitement.

“Why don’t we go now? It’s not like we really have anything else to be doing,” Chan suggested. Jeongin’s eyes widened. After a moment of debate, he agreed with a nod. He filled up his bucket while he waited for the older boy to get changed and then led him to the lake. It was odd being the one to lead Chan through the woods and up the dock. 

“Nessie! I brought Chan hyung to say ‘hi’!” Jeongin called when they got out to the middle. Right on cue, Nessie’s head popped above the water and she stared, unblinking at Chan.

“Jeongin, get back!” Chan yelled. He grabbed the younger boy and pulled him across the deck, positioning himself in between the younger boy and the monster in front of them.

“Hyung, it’s okay she’s friendly!” Jeongin said quickly. He struggled to pull himself out of Chan’s grasp. 

“There is no way that monster is friendly,” Chan insisted. Jeongin had just enough time to duck behind the older boy before Nessie snorted in annoyance, soaking Chan, much like she did to Jeongin the first day they met. Jeongin was able to slip out of Chan’s grasp and walk across the deck.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. I promise he’s nice, he just gets scared easily,” he said soothingly. He reached out a hand and waited for Nessie to lower her head again. Chan wiped his eyes just in time to see Jeongin reach his hand out. But instead of biting it off or attempting to hurt Jeongin, the monster ever so gently pushed her head into his hand.

“You...she listens to you?” Chan asked warily.

“Yeah! She comes when called and is really friendly. She’s never tried to hurt me and I’ve been coming here every day for the past week,” Jeongin said. He pulled away to grab some meat from the bucket and toss it to the sea creature.

“I can’t believe she’s actually real,” Chan said quietly.

“The legends aren’t all quite true, but not everyone needs to know that,” Jeongin said. He threw another piece of meat to Nessie.

“Do you want to try feeding her?” He put the bucket down and slid it across the slick deck towards Chan. 

The older boy picked up a piece of meat and tossed it exactly like Jeongin did. The creature caught it effortlessly and stared at him expectantly.

“She wants more,” Jeongin explained. Chan obliged and threw another piece of meat for the creature.

“How did you get her to come to you?” he asked, still watching Nessie hesitantly. 

“Well, Felix and I came back the day after you brought me and I threw different kinds of food into the water. She poked her head up to eat but disappeared again right away. When I told Seungmin, he figured out she was the Loch Ness Monster and told me her nickname is ‘Nessie,’” he explained. At the sound of her name, Nessie hummed deep in her throat, causing Chan’s eyes to widen in wonder. “And when I came back the next day, I tried using her name and she swam up to the dock.”

“Nessie, huh? And she really responds to her name?” Chan asked skeptically. 

“Yeah, pretty much. I don’t know if she’d come up to anyone who calls her but it worked for me. And she’s smart too. She understands what we’re saying but just has a different way to talk back to us,” Jeongin said. He turned his attention back to Nessie and gently rubbed her nose.

“It’s a cute name. And it looks like Innie’s been taking pretty good care of you,” the older boy said quietly, finally working up the bravery to address the creature directly. In response, Nessie stretched out her neck and pushed her nose against Jeongin’s cheek, soaking it. 

“I think she likes you,” Chan said fondly. Jeongin giggled and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. He had been very skeptical the first time Chan brought him to the lake for a seemingly innocent fishing trip, but now he was actually grateful the older boy had dragged him out here. Never in a million years would he thought he would be able to say he made friends with a legendary sea creature, but here he was. 


End file.
